The present invention broadly relates to a method of, and apparatus for, forming quilts and, more specifically, pertains to a new and improved method of processing textile material webs, especially for the manufacture of quilts and the like, and to a new and improved apparatus for processing textile material webs, particularly for the section-by-section or unit manufacture of multi-layer quilts and the like.
Generally speaking, in the practice of the method aspects of the present invention for the processing of textile material webs in a quilting machine, especially for the manufacture of quilts and the like, the cover material webs and the at least one filler material web are withdrawn from a material stock or support, stretched in a tenter frame guidable forth and back under a sewing device, quilted in the tenter frame and subsequently led out of the quilting machine.
As to the apparatus aspects of the present development such pertains to a quilting machine comprising a sewing or stitching device, a material stock or supply from which cover material webs and at least one filler material web can be withdrawn, a tenter frame guidable forth and back or reciprocated beneath the sewing or stitching device. In the quilting machine the cover material webs and the at least one filler material web are stretched and quilted. There are also provided means for leading or withdrawing the quilted material webs out of the quilting machine.
Quilts and the like consist of several layers of flat textile webs, generally of one or several layers formed of cotton or of a fiber filling or padding as well as a top layer of cover material and a bottom layer of cover material. These layers are sewn or stitched together at seams which usually extend in an ornamental pattern or design.
The superposed fabric materials and inserts must be held together during the quilting or stitching operation, so that no mutual shifting or displacement can take place during working or processing thereof. For this purpose, the individual layers are fed to the quilting or stitching machine, stretched in a frame or held between pairs of rolls and thus accurately positioned, before they can be sewn or stitched together.
In an automatic quilting machine as known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,960,095, granted June 1, 1976, the fabric material webs and padding webs supplied from rolls are guided into a longitudinally and transversely movable material holding carriage and clamped therein with the assistance of retaining or holding means mounted along such carriage. During the sewing operation, the material holding carriage moves longitudinally as well as transversely beneath the stationary sewing head, which are fixedly arranged at a transversely extending beam above the material holding carriage. The already sewn or quilted sections of the material webs and the not yet sewn, only loosely superposed ingoing material webs located externally of the material holding carriage, during the sewing operation hang in looped form between a pair of take-up or tension rollers arranged at the discharge station and a clamping bar arranged at the front end of the material holding carriage as well as between fluid actuated cylinders at the feed station and a clamping bar arranged at the rear end of the material holding carriage.
This prior art apparatus renders possible a faultless and reproducible sewing of the different layers stretched out in the material holding carriage. However, the ingoing and only loosely superposed webs of fabric material and webs of padding, which are moved forth and back as well as laterally by the movement of the material holding carriage, tend to be mutually shifted with respect to one another, depending on the characteristics of the individual components. This undesirable web shifting can cause the formation of web sections without padding and/or local accumulations of padding or filling material in the quilt or quilted blanket. Moreover, the fixedly arranged stock rolls allow only a minor lateral displacement of the material holding carriage and thus restrict the patterning possibilities of the quilting or stitching operation.
Furthermore, in this prior art quilting machine it is very difficult to clean the not exactly aligned superposed edges of the individual fabric material webs and padding or filling webs without incurring an untolerable loss of material, and additionally, requiring a considerable amount of time.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,044,426, granted July 17, 1962, there is disclosed a stitching machine in which the cut layers of fabric and padding materials are assembled in superposed relation and clamped in a frame outside the stitching machine. An exact positioning of the assembled layers of materials is possible in this known stitching machine, but a continuously operating and economical production is not possible, because after each quilting or stitching operation the frame together with the completed work unit has to be replaced by an alternative frame with a new framed assembly of materials.
An apparatus and method for reducing waste in tufting is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,432,296, granted Feb. 21, 1984. The carpet backing is folded along the margins as a seam and then sewn to assure presenting a desired width of backing to the tufting needles in proper position. In this way there can be avoided the necessity for making an excessive width of carpet in order to assure an adequate usable width of finished carpet. Waste is thereby avoided. The sewing of the seam is effected by a sewing machine, which is synchronously driven by the tufting machine and which continuously forms the seams and sews in accordance with the tufting feed.
In French Pat. No. 526,716, granted July 7, 1921, there is disclosed a device for sewing together webs of material along the lengthwise sides thereof. This sewing device for embroidery articles has a movable or traveling sewing machine, in order to produce absolutely straight seams. Before the webs of material can be sewn together, these material webs must first be superposed and stretched or tensioned on a table by means of clamping elements, whereby the margins to be sewn must project beyond the table edge and come to lie within the range of the movable or traveling sewing machine.
This known device for sewing together webs of material renders possible the production of straight seams, but the sewing together of different layers of loosely superposed webs of material and padding webs is not possible.